Clearly defined terms of reference and operating procedures should govern the activities of all special police units, which need to be specially selected and trained to be made accountable.

According to the Disciplined Forces Commission's interim report, most presenters recognised the need for a squad of well-equipped and well-trained police personnel to deal with armed and dangerous criminals.

But the complaints to the commission about police excesses and unlawful killings focused primarily on the activities of the Anti-Crime Task Force, which is the unit intended to perform the specialist function of dealing with serious violent crime. This unit, which is also known as the Target Special Squad or 'Black Clothes' police is part of the Criminal Investigation Department.

The commission was urged to seek the disbanding of the unit or re-deployment of all of its active members elsewhere in the Police Force.

But commissioners pointed out that experience in other countries suggests that the problem of human rights abuses is due less to one of individual wrongdoing than to the very nature of the specialist unit itself. Thus, disbanding the unit to replace it with another might not resolve the underlying problems.

The issue was therefore how to make any such unit properly accountable for its activities, though commissioners said these units should be "ideally small teams of specialist officers deployed on a regional basis."

Firstly, they noted that organisational and administrative ambiguity seemed to surround this unit, which did not feature on the organisational chart provided by the police. "The special unit was variously called by senior police officers... and the only thing that could be agreed on was that the unit being discussed wore a distinct uniform, coloured black," they noted.

The commission found this "worrying" as its line of command was not immediately obvious, and said that at least the unit's name and its place within the organisational structure needed to be clearly explained to the general public. And like the conclusion of the 2000 Symonds report, they agreed that there is a clear need for written terms of reference and written operating procedures, which need to be explained to the public.

Secondly, given that this unit, more than any other, is likely to use force, and potentially lethal force, they concluded that there is a special need for strict control over members of any such units and their discipline. "The commission believes that any members of such an expert squad must be specially selected and trained. They must be subject to regular integrity testing, and regular training and re-training, not merely in the accuracy of their weapons, but in the circumstances in which the use of force is lawful and when not."

Also, they said there should be a regular rotation in the membership to ensure that the necessity of using force does not become a matter of routine.

They also recommended that members of this unit wear authorised uniforms and make every effort to identify themselves to suspects.

The Phantom Squad (or even squads)

"It has not been possible for us to determine if any such (phantom) body exists..." the report says, "although there is considerable anecdotal evidence suggesting that there is a practice of organised killings underway."

The commission noted that there are allegations that these killings are totally unrelated to the police, and may be the result of organised crime.

Other allegations suggested that the failure of the police to tackle serious and violent organised crime may have facilitated, or even necessitated, these acts as an alternative deterrent. Others also alleged that these killings could have been state-sponsored and organised through off-duty or unidentified members of the 'Black Clothes' squad. "It is not possible for the commission to come to a formal determination as to which, if any, of these allegations are founded in fact."

However, it said that the authorities must distance themselves from such killings and reinforce the fight against these crimes.